33 years and plenty of hushed
talk after the series’ nucleus, Ridley Scott finally returns to the world of
xenomorphs and interstellar terror with the hyped and hotly anticipated
Prometheus, prequel to Alien and a film ditching claustrophobic thrills for
near biblical levels of creationist exploration theory and an origin story for
humanity.
In the year 2093,
archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan
Marshall-Green) lead a multi-billion dollar expedition to the far side of the
galaxy after discovering a series of pre-stone age cave paintings suggesting at
the source of life on Earth. With the posthumous backing of philanthropist
Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce in old man makeup), the spaceship Prometheus arrives at
the star system’s only life sustaining moon, and the crew (including Idris
Elba’s captain, Michael Fassbender’s resident android David, and Charlize
Theron as company baton wielder Vickers) quickly set about an ancient
temple-like underground structure.
Given what genre we’re
dealing with, things will not go according to plan, and that’s not taking into
account the plans we’re not aware of. Rather than a place of worship, the temple
in fact seems to be a cesspool for a strange alien lifeblood, one that doesn’t
take a liking to contact, as indicated by the dead humanoids they find on
sight, apparent ‘engineers’, and by the series of fatal events which sees the
ship’s crew dwindle and the intention of the life hosts revealed as malevolent.
Cue race against time to stop apocalyptic end game and plenty of backstabbing
double play.
While taking the dead ‘space
jockey’ from Alien and playing it into a much denser back story of 2001 style
ambition is certainly a great concept of re-imagination and exploration,
there’s just the slightest sniff of desperation about Ridley Scott coming back
to the cultural phenomenon he birthed. This certainly becomes apparent in light
of his recent body of work, a series of underwhelming fare high on visual
appeal but low on compelling depth. By stark contrast, Prometheus is a film
certainly great to look at but trying to do far too much without necessary
clarity in a relatively short time frame.
The result is a film which
feels, especially by the end, incomplete. Given that Scott is the granddaddy of
Director’s Cuts, this shouldn’t really come as a huge surprise, but the lack of
buzz around some kind of huge extended version suggests we shouldn’t get our
hopes up. The viral marketing campaign, focusing on Weyland’s launching of the
star searching enterprise, is as good as teaser material when you consider that
the loose ends left hanging don’t come from a lack of platform for the events
of the film, but from within the events themselves.
Like his previous work Robin
Hood, Prometheus clearly suffers from writing room rigmarole. A quick look back
at the project’s history confirms this, with the infamous Alien Harvest concept
cannibalized to incorporate a more cinematic and standard sci-fi thriller drafted
by two independent writers, original scribe Jon Spaihts and then Lost show
runner Damon Lindelof. A lack of balance in the script comes about from this,
as too many elements clash and fail to gel, while scenes bounce into each other
at high speed with a lack of natural pacing or flow.
That’s not to say that
Prometheus isn’t enjoyable, it’s just tragically wasteful and something of a
let down. Of the cast, the more interesting characterizations too often put on
the backburner for less satisfying pseudo-science and attempts at archetypal
scares. The most memorable character is Michael Fassbender’s synthetic David, a
nuanced and mannered artificial person modeling himself on T.E Lawrence and
thinly disguising his ulterior motives behind a veneer of composure and
politeness. His scenes are often the best, while Charlize Theron is similarly
impressive as the equally ambiguous Vickers, a cold and cynical presence who
you just know is set to pose problems. Ironically, given his reputation for not
putting stock in his actors, Scott is able to frame both characters stylishly
and effectively.
Not so the rest, sadly. While
she is undoubtedly a quality actress, Noomi Rapace is not given much to do
other than action girl protagonist shtick and her character is badly
underwritten. Her in-film lover Holloway, played by Tom Hardy look-a-like Logan
Marshall-Green, is also inconsistent in his handling, while Guy Pearce’s
casting just comes across as strange given the circumstances (he never appears
in his normal guise, only dressed up as a 103 year old) and excellent actors
such as Idris Elba and Sean Harris are wasted on bland plot-pushers.
The lack of clear reasoning
within the story is ultimately what sabotages the good work Prometheus is
trying to pull off however, with motives and revelations reached for no visible
reason and undercooked plot elements stinking of contrivance. One egregious
twist in the second act in particular lacks any logic, and has the viewer
question why such clandestine shadow play is necessary when it has no bearing
on the plot. For any hope of resolution to these multiple hanging questions,
one must look to deleted scenes.
So in short, Prometheus is a
film that aims high and fails to hit its haughty and ambitious marks, striving
for something more than it can achieve. Elements within the film suggest
potential for more, but frankly it has to settle for being entertaining and
distracting rather than compelling or memorable on any level; Ridley Scott’s
greatness-free rut carries on, a backwards step for inspiration proving just to
be a backwards step for reasonable fare.
7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment